Pull yourself up by the/your (own) bootstraps is an idiomatic expression that means "to improve your situation without any help from other people". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pull-haul-up-by-the-your-own-bootstraps With the following question, Eminem flips over the expression and reveals the uselessness of such a mentality: how can someone be independent and self-reliant if they lack the bare minimum to survive?

The reference to President Donald Trump (who is a Republican) could not be more straightforward.

Notice how this part of the song echoes Lamar's lyrics "gang-banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me?": both songs highlight feuds inside the African-American community due to gang divisions. However, Eminem seems to be more reluctant to blame African-Americans: in the following lines, he underscores that said fights are rooted in problems such as single-parenting, drug abuse and struggle with addiction that lead people "with nothin(g) to lose to shoot each other for shoes".

Bias is synonymous with prejudice. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bias

Razor wire is "coiled wire fitted with sharp razor edges and used as an obstacle or barrier". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/razor%20wire

Eminem links high levels of crime to poor neighborhoods and socio-economic status — which singer whose song we analyzed made the same connection? Do you agree with Eminem's viewpoint?

Fuzz is a slang synonym of police. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fuzz

Freddie Gray was a 25-year-old African-American who was arrested in 2015 in Baltimore and then died only a week later due to injuries while in custody of Baltimore policemen. https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-freddie-gray-death-unrest-settlement-police-reform/ (see the annotation on "Pull your pants up, we 'bout to roll up and \ Throw your ass in the van").

It means destroying, damaging something. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tear%20up

The Housing Choice Voucher Program (popularly known as Section Eight) is a program aimed to provide financial support to elderly people, low-income families and veterans in the private housing market. https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/housing-choice-vouchers-tenants#:~:text=Housing%20Choice%20Voucher%20Program,program%20with%20funding%20from%20HUD Eminem "calls out the country for placing African Americans in a system designed to make them lose. With Section 8 housing and a floundering education system in impoverished neighborhoods, there’s no way they can really win when the odds are stacked up against them." https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

In this case, wave acts as a verb, meaning "moving from side to side, or to make something move like this while holding it in the hand". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wave

Acclimated means familiar with, adapted to. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acclimate

"Once again, he tries to kill stereotypes by denouncing the “crack spot” as a hangout place for blacks. He’s also critical of naive cops who walk into black neighborhoods with no sense of understanding of their behavior or culture. Instead of walking with a fair mind and attitude, their level of fears heighten because of the unknown, and cause them to automatically be racists." https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

Your turn: Do you think hiring more African-American policemen would make a difference?

The expression Black Ops probably refers to the homonymous Call of Duty shooter game. In this context, the game may function as a metaphor to highlight widespread violence.

Stalemate is a condition "in which neither side can gain an advantage or win". Stallo, in Italian. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stalemate

The repetitive use of the comparative of majority ("madder") highlights the spiral of violence triggered by police officers' increased violence at black people's (legitimate) rage at their racist treatments. This creates a vicious circle that can only result in more violence, as the Black Ops metaphor clearly represents.

It alludes to "not having enough money". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/strapped

The term is used to indicate the act of "speaking or acting playfully or wittily". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/banter

Die Antwood are "a group that was ostracized for their 2012 video Fatty Boom Boom, which portrayed their female lead singer, Yolandi, protayed in black face." Eminem's message is that "dealing with in-your-face racism is a tough pill to swallow" but "he’d rather endure that than watch white people seemingly destroy the black culture with empty jokes". https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

We have already come across this word: do you remember what it alludes to?

Eminem abandons the cop's perspective and adopts a black man's viewpoint. The rapper is not far from the truth: life expectancy varies significantly depending on ethnic factors. "Pre-pandemic, the overall life expectancy was 79 years for the white population, compared to 75 years for the Black population, according to the National Institute of Health. […] in 2022, the overall life expectancy was 71 years for the Black population and 77 years for the white population." This is connected to disparity in access to healthcare, stress and living and working condition. https://badgerherald.com/news/science-news/2024/11/07/life-expectancy-gap-between-black-and-white-americans-is-a-systematic-issue-uw-experts-say/

It is the same rationale that we applied to eyesore. In this case, the nouns are back and spinning. If something backspins, it means that...

"The idea of a change in the measurement of time, in which people and events from one part of history are imagined as existing in another part." In Italian, it would be a vortice temporale. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/time-warp

Your turn: What form of violence is Eminem attacking here?

Let's try to understand this together: this is a compound word, which means that it is composed of two words combined together. In this case, eye + sore. If sore indicates something that hurts, then eyesore means...

A pigsty is "an enclosed area where pigs are kept". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pigsty

Swine would be translated as suino. In this case, it is evident that the singer is using it in a metaphorical sens, that is, as "a contemptible person". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swine

Thyroid is tiroide in Italian.

The rapper uses a metaphor to indicate that, just as cards players, policemen are not willing to show their true intentions and next moves.

"Something (such as a part of a sleeve or glove) encircling the wrist". In Italian, it would be ammanettato. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cuffed

This part refers to a news story, specifically the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in 2015, "when he was tossed in the back of a police van and sustained serious injuries. Gray died a week later, and many believed his death was a result of police brutality during his ride to the police station." https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/ https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-freddie-gray-death-unrest-settlement-police-reform/

Synonym of nonsense. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balderdash

"Vexed by the their complaints regarding the government’s wrongdoings, the narrator slanders African Americans." https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

In this second verse, Eminem keeps adopting the white racist viewpoint, which is explored in further detail.

Informal way to express Trying to. http://tryna.urbanup.com/13135813

(To) indict someone means "to formally charge —or accuse —(someone) with a crime". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indict

It is a "weapon that gives someone a small electric shock and makes them unable to move for a short time, sometimes used by police". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/taser

Ensue means "to take place afterward or as a result". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensue

Police brutality and white supremacy combine here: the racist cop's objective is charging the black man with a crime, regardless of the young man's innocence. Another element that I would like to underscore is the word choice: * homie: the policeman uses an informal term to denigrate the young man. In other words, he discursively builds his social superiority. * back inside: the link here is to the prejudice we mentioned before. The policeman ignores whether the young man has been to jail; he simply assumes it.

"The “Heidi Klum” reference plays off the slang term for cocaine". https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

The tail light (or taillight) is "a red light on the back of a road vehicle that makes it possible for the vehicle to be seen in the dark". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tail-light

Here Eminem cleverly makes a pun by using the other, more widespread, meaning of the word profile, that is "a side view of a person's face". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/profile

The entire first verse corresponds to the white policeman's perspective. As you will listen (and read), Eminem's words are explicit in reporting the cop's viewpoint. The truth cannot be sugarcoated: "we (the cops) ain't gonna lie to you" and don't like the sight of you".

In this case, (to) grasp refers to "mental hold or comprehension especially when broad". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grasp

As a verb, (to) loot means "to seize and carry away by force". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loot#dictionary-entry-2

Setting the scene: the song was released as a single from the album Revival (2017). Just as The Blacker The Berry, the song is deeply rooted in contemporary America and ferociously addresses systemic racism, police brutality and white supremacy — from the perspective of someone who is a white man. The song was chosen as it perfectly encapsulates and maximizes all elements noted in previous songs.

Since the song was released only two years after The Blacker The Berry, the historical context is (almost) the same, characterized by the Black Lives Matter movement (see note on The Blacker The Berry), except for a significant change in the presidency. Indeed, Barack Obama's presidency ended in January 2017, when Republican Donald Trump was inaugurated as President.

So, why is he a hypocrite? "he refers to himself as a hypocrite for the contrast between the code of righteousness to which he ideologically subscribes and the sinfulness of his […] violence." https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0300649/4 As he clarified in a Rolling Stone interview, "he started thinking about his own time in the streets and all the wrong he's done. So he started writing a new verse, in which he turned the microscope on himself. How can he criticize America for killing young black men […] when young black men are often just so good at it?" https://issuu.com/lawrenceambrocio5018/docs/rolling_stone_march_26_2015_usa_1_

In 2012, Travyon Martin, a 17-year-old black teenager, was killed on his way back home by a white neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman. The man acted against the police's instructions, followed Trayvon and shot him to then declare that he did it as a form of self-defense. Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder: however, he was declared "not guilty". The case inspired a civil rights movement around issues such as race, justice and police brutality in America that would have later become worldwide known as "Black Lives Matter". In the words of former U.S. President Obama, "that was the start of America looking inward […], coming to terms with what has always been our original sin." https://youtu.be/lJynpEzXCY8?si=hTUlaeMllztuIxBf https://youtu.be/pG8FC1Nv18g?si=KvEljPV-Csd3OuPq

It was said tragedy that inspired this song: "Lamar was flipping through the channels on his tour bus when he saw on the news a report that a 16-year-old named Travyon martin had been shot to death in a Florida subdivision." The murder, the singer explained, "put a whole new anger inside me […] It made me remember how I felt. Being harassed, my partners being killed." https://issuu.com/lawrenceambrocio5018/docs/rolling_stone_march_26_2015_usa_1_

Weeping means crying. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/weeping

Said acronym has different meanings; however, given the context, I inferred it stays for "Black Entertainment Television", which provides entertainment programs with a focus on Black culture. https://www.bet.com/

Abbreviation for birthday. http://b-day.urbanup.com/359355

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was a Jamaican activist, mostly known for having founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). He encouraged Black nationalism through the celebration of African culture and history and advocated for a "back to Africa" movement. https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/marcus-garvey

Here Kendrick Lamar is probably referring to his 2015 performance at Georgia State's music concert, Pantherpalooza. https://viewbook.gsu.edu/2025-2026/?arts_portfolio_item=student-life#:~:text=Pantherpalooza,from%20Kendrick%20Lamar%20to%20Future.

Here the reference is to the Black Panther Party: do you remember which singer (or which song) among the previous ones mentioned it?

Starting from the 1970s, other African-American gangs emerged to defend themselves from the Crips: the Brims and the Pirus were two of them. The name comes from Piru Street in Compton, where the gang originated. They eventually united in a larger gang under the name of Bloods, which is now one of the major L.A. based gang. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/crips-and-bloods https://www.dictionary.com/culture/slang/piru

Lamar himself "grew up surrounded by gangs. Some of his close friends were West Side Pirus […] and his mom says her brothers were Compton Crips." https://issuu.com/lawrenceambrocio5018/docs/rolling_stone_march_26_2015_usa_1_

If you are interested in discovering the gang's structure and delve more into their origins, here is a detailed (and very interesting If I may add) Intelligence report: https://info.publicintelligence.net/BloodsStreetGangIntelligenceReport.pdf.

In this case, beefin' means fighting. http://beefin.urbanup.com/1401068

What linguistic phenomenon is noticeable here?

Kendrick Lamar was born and raised in Compton, California, situated south of Los Angeles. The Crips he mentions are a modern criminal organization that became active in 1969 throughout Los Angeles high schools. The Compton Crips are a faction of the gang currently active in Compton. Violent fights with other gangs (mainly the Bloods) for drug dealing, smuggling and prostitution control has been going on for decades. https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/gangcolor/lacrips.htm https://study.com/academy/lesson/crips-gang-history-locations.html

If you are interested in the topic, here is a link to a YouTube documentary that delves into Crip neighborhoods in Compton: https://youtu.be/iwfUCR8MbBQ?si=LWfyT8x7n5HbXVi9

The Desert Eagle is a semi-automatic gun.

In this case, it means direct. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blunt

The wordplay here is based on the meaning of the word black: it can mean African-American but it is also the symbolical color of evilness.

Aryan refers to a "hypothetical ethnic type illustrated by or descended from early speakers of Indo-European languages —used in Nazism to designate a supposed master race of non-Jewish Caucasians usually having Nordic features". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Aryan

Synonym of dirty. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grimy

It means I am going to in a process of word evolution which may be the following: I am going to be > I'm gonna > Imma > I'ma. http://ima.urbanup.com/2146

According to you and to what we have been examined in the explanatory part, what does this line refer to? Clue: focus on the word "penitentiary".

These lines pose a critique towards societal impositions: Lamar feels irrelevant and deprived of any importance in American society. However, this feeling entirely depends on what white people have been telling him. Once again, double consciousness dominates the self.

Dat means that. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/dat/955

I could not find a match for this word, yet it is highly probable it may be an abbreviation of remember.

Lamar refuses to accept that Blacks are "doomed from the start": making use of a sport metaphor, he speaks in terms of a "race", in which everyone begins from the same starting point.

The. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/di/963

'pon means on. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/pon/1257

The American English version would be: "How don't you see the whip, left scar on our back". https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/nuh/1055 https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/di/963 https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/pon/1257

It means in. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/inna/1014

This sentence may be translated to American English in something like: "We feel a whole heap of pain because we are black". https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/wul/3671 https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/ah/883

Woi indicates "an expression of surprise or disbelief", similar to "Oh my God". https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/woi/4516

Cah means because. I hypothesize that it may be the outcome of an evolution process like the following: because > 'cause > cah. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/cah/4365

I could not find any indications for this word, but I think it may be used as us.

"This Black proverb appears as early as 1929 in the title of Wallace Thurman’s novel, The Blacker the Berry. Most agree that the phrase is meant as an affirmation of the richness and beauty of Black people and of darker skin Blacks. In many ways it is a counter response to the pervasive celebration of white or lighter skin Black Americans. The phrase appears in Tupac Shakur’s 1993 song “Keep Your Head Up,” and continues to flow through Black culture as a form of praise and affirmation." https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/save-culture-slang-exploration-black-language-expressions

See the annotation I made on the same term in 2Pac's song "Changes".

As you may have gathered by now, Lamar's song is unfiltered: although he acknowledges the hierarchy that forces his community to remain "at the bottom of mankind", he does not feel inferior. On the contrary, he is proud of his identity and his African ancestry, so much as he does not hesitate in judging the oppressors.

After having described some features stereotypically connected with being African-American, Lamar asks white people a rhetorical question ("you hate me, don't you?") since he already knows the answer. In such a perspective, there seems to be no glimpse of hope for Black people: they are hated and their culture is at risk of being "terminated". Nevertheless, Lamar does not renounce to his voice and gives space to the rage that feels since he was a teenager. https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0300649/4

Informal and sometimes derogatory adjective used to indicate coiled (that is, very curly) hair. In this case, think of afro hair. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nappy

Lamar's viewpoint is crystal clear: not only is there a social hierarchy in America, but also he identifies black as the ones "at the bottom". There is no possible equality in this scenario.

Once again, the you corresponds to white people listening the song.

In this case, convey means communicate. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/convey

This sentence functions as an explanation of the previous one: Lamar claims that he may be experiencing life in a schizophrenic way but blames whites (the ideal interlocutors in this scenario) for it.

Homie is a term used to refer to a close friend. http://homie.urbanup.com/1195050

Schizophrenia is a mental illness, in "characterized by disruptions in thought processes, perceptions, emotional responsiveness, and social interactions". https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/schizophrenia However, in this case the term is more likely to refer to W.E.B. Du Bois' double consciousness. This notion hints at the idea that black people possess a double identity: the first one is tied to being African-American, whereas the other corresponds to the perspective of the White oppressors. As a consequence, their sense of self is fragmented. Hence, the reference to the fragmented self of schizophrenic people. https://study.com/learn/lesson/web-du-bois-double-consciousness-overview-background-examples.html#:~:text=Double%20consciousness%20is%20the%20feeling%20of%20having%20two%20social%20identities,%2C%20and%20treatment%20by%2C%20Caucasians. https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0300649/4

Morn' is the abbreviation of morning. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/morn

Pull yourself up by the/your (own) bootstraps is an idiomatic expression that means "to improve your situation without any help from other people". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pull-haul-up-by-the-your-own-bootstraps With the following question, Eminem flips over the expression and reveals the uselessness of such a mentality: how can someone be independent and self-reliant if they lack the bare minimum to survive?

Bias is synonymous with prejudice. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bias

Razor wire is "coiled wire fitted with sharp razor edges and used as an obstacle or barrier". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/razor%20wire

Dryer lint refers to the buildup that forms in the dryer after doing laundry as a result of hair, textile fibers and other particles clamping together. Normally, it is thrown up after every washing cycle. In Italian, it is translatable as lanugine, but perhaps the following image will clarify any doubt: https://preparedhero.com/it-it/blogs/articles/dryer-lint#:~:text=What%20Is%20Dryer%20Lint?,for%20dryer%20safety%20and%20performance.

Fuzz is a slang synonym of police. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fuzz

Freddie Gray was a 25-year-old African-American who was arrested in 2015 in Baltimore and then died only a week later due to injuries while in custody of Baltimore policemen. https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-freddie-gray-death-unrest-settlement-police-reform/ (see the annotation on "Pull your pants up, we 'bout to roll up and \ Throw your ass in the van").

It means destroying, damaging something. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tear%20up

The Housing Choice Voucher Program (popularly known as Section Eight) is a program aimed to provide financial support to elderly people, low-income families and veterans in the private housing market. https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/housing-choice-vouchers-tenants#:~:text=Housing%20Choice%20Voucher%20Program,program%20with%20funding%20from%20HUD Eminem "calls out the country for placing African Americans in a system designed to make them lose. With Section 8 housing and a floundering education system in impoverished neighborhoods, there’s no way they can really win when the odds are stacked up against them." https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

In this case, wave acts as a verb, meaning "moving from side to side, or to make something move like this while holding it in the hand". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wave

Acclimated means familiar with, adapted to. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acclimate

The expression Black Ops probably refers to the homonymous Call of Duty shooter game. In this context, the game may function as a metaphor to highlight widespread violence.

Stalemate is a condition "in which neither side can gain an advantage or win". Stallo, in Italian. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stalemate

The repetitive use of the comparative of majority ("madder") highlights the spiral of violence triggered by police officers' increased violence at black people's (legitimate) rage at their racist treatments. This creates a vicious circle that can only result in more violence, as the Black Ops metaphor clearly represents.

This is a reference to a news story which dates back to 2016: Micah J. Johnson, shot five Dallas police officers dead and harmed other eleven people. Since the killer was a Black man and the shooting happened during a peaceful Black Live Matter rally, the assassination was connected to the movement itself. However, "the BLM organization responded to these critiques head-on, calling the attack "the result of the actions of a lone gunman” and calling it “dangerous and irresponsible” to “assign the actions of one person to an entire movement”." https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/09/black-lives-matter-dallas-protest-shooting https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

Your turn: what do you think Eminem is trying to say here? Clue: focus on the word hire.

It alludes to "not having enough money". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/strapped

The term is used to indicate the act of "speaking or acting playfully or wittily". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/banter

Die Antwood are "a group that was ostracized for their 2012 video Fatty Boom Boom, which portrayed their female lead singer, Yolandi, protayed in black face." Eminem's message is that "dealing with in-your-face racism is a tough pill to swallow" but "he’d rather endure that than watch white people seemingly destroy the black culture with empty jokes". https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

Eminem abandons the cop's perspective and adopts a black man's viewpoint. The rapper is accurate: life expectancy varies significantly depending on ethnic factors. "Pre-pandemic, the overall life expectancy was 79 years for the white population, compared to 75 years for the Black population, according to the National Institute of Health. […] in 2022, the overall life expectancy was 71 years for the Black population and 77 years for the white population." This is connected to disparity in access to healthcare, stress and living and working condition. https://badgerherald.com/news/science-news/2024/11/07/life-expectancy-gap-between-black-and-white-americans-is-a-systematic-issue-uw-experts-say/

This song gives a circular structure to the present analysis: Eminem connects present-day abuse of power, racism and police brutality to 1960s fights for civil rights. The singer underscores how history seems to repeat itself in an endless loop: although more than 50 years have passed, black people still struggle to have their rights recognized and respected. And, I add, music keeps being a space in which lack of equality, racism and social injustice are denounced.

It is the same rationale that we applied to eyesore. In this case, the nouns are back and spinning. If something backspins, it means that...

"The idea of a change in the measurement of time, in which people and events from one part of history are imagined as existing in another part." In Italian, it would be a vortice temporale. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/time-warp

Let's try to understand this together: this is a compound word, which means that it is composed of two words combined together. In this case, eye + sore. If sore indicates something that hurts, then eyesore means...

A pigsty is "an enclosed area where pigs are kept". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pigsty

Swine would be translated as suino. In this case, it is evident that the singer is using it in a metaphorical sens, that is, as "a contemptible person". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swine

Thyroid is tiroide in Italian.

The rapper uses a metaphor to indicate that, just as cards players, policemen are not willing to show their true intentions and next moves.

"Something (such as a part of a sleeve or glove) encircling the wrist". In Italian, it would be ammanettato. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cuffed

This part refers to a news story, specifically the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in 2015, "when he was tossed in the back of a police van and sustained serious injuries. Gray died a week later, and many believed his death was a result of police brutality during his ride to the police station." https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/ https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-freddie-gray-death-unrest-settlement-police-reform/

Synonym of nonsense. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balderdash

"Vexed by the their complaints regarding the government’s wrongdoings, the narrator slanders African Americans." https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

In this second verse, the white racist viewpoint is explored further.

It is "a device with meshes or perforations through which finer particles of a mixture (as of ashes, flour, or sand) of various sizes may be passed to separate them from coarser ones, through which the liquid may be drained from liquid-containing material, or through which soft materials may be forced for reduction to fine particles". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sieve In Italian, setaccio, colabrodo.

Informal way to express Trying to. http://tryna.urbanup.com/13135813

These three lines channel the white policeman's internal monologue and trail of thought. Although he recognizes their negative impact, he keeps justifying his abusive and racist actions in the name of his country, symbolically represented by the colors of the flag.

"Though he’s fully aware that murdering an innocent black man isn’t the right thing to do, he finds peace and comfort deluding himself into thinking that he’s protecting his country, or as he raps, “the red, white and blue.” https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

(To) indict someone means "to formally charge —or accuse —(someone) with a crime". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indict

It is a "weapon that gives someone a small electric shock and makes them unable to move for a short time, sometimes used by police". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/taser

Ensue means "to take place afterward or as a result". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensue

Police brutality and white supremacy combine here: the racist cop's objective is charging the black man with a crime, regardless of the young man's innocence. Another element that I would like to underscore is the word choice: * homie: the policeman uses an informal term to denigrate the young man. In other words, he discursively builds his social superiority. * back inside: the link here is to the prejudice we mentioned before. The policeman ignores whether the young man has been to jail; he simply assumes it.

"The “Heidi Klum” reference plays off the slang term for cocaine". https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

The tail light (or taillight) is "a red light on the back of a road vehicle that makes it possible for the vehicle to be seen in the dark". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tail-light

In this context, it means "to pass unnoticed or unremarked". In Italian, the sentence could be translated into "potremmo lasciarti andare". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slide

"A house where dope heads (heroin addicts) live" and do drugs. http://dope-house.urbanup.com/7824692 Eminem is criticizing "how African American drivers are often stereotyped as drug dealers with a criminal background". https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/ Indeed, the key word in the sentence is "probably": the policeman does not know who the young man is, where he is going to or where he comes from, so he cannot do anything but hypothesize. The problem is twofold: 1. He mistakes his hypothesis for truth; 2. His hypothesis is biased: there is no logical reason as for why he associates the young black man with the "dope house". However, he does so because he cultivates prejudices against black men.

Here Eminem cleverly makes a pun by using the other, more widespread, meaning of the word profile, that is "a side view of a person's face". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/profile

The scene goes on. Eminem's visual language does not make it hard to picture it: a white cop stopping a black young man who is driving his car. The policeman asks him to pull up (that is, to stop the car at the side of the road), roll his window down and provide a "profile". In this context, "profiling" indicates "the activity of collecting information about someone, especially a criminal, in order to give a description of them". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/profiling More specifically, Eminem is directly criticizing the so-called racial profiling, which is an illegal practice relying "on stereotypes of racial or ethnic groups to assist law enforcement in detecting and deterring crime". In other (simpler) words, it means that some people (namely Latinos or Blacks) are stopped and incarcerated only for belonging to a certain ethnicity. Criminal profiling, instead, is a legal practice based on evidence gathered from "previous crimes from witnesses, victims, and the crime scene. The profile includes the potential suspect’s age range, gender, race, possible employment, and other factors to narrow down the group of suspects". https://www.amu.apus.edu/area-of-study/criminal-justice/resources/racial-profiling-vs-criminal-profiling/<br /> https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/eminem-untouchable-lyrics-decoded-8062711/

The entire first verse corresponds to the white policeman's perspective. As you will listen (and read), Eminem's words are explicit in reporting the cop's viewpoint. The truth cannot be sugarcoated: "we (the cops) ain't gonna lie to you" and don't like the sight of you".

In this case, (to) grasp refers to "mental hold or comprehension especially when broad". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grasp

As a verb, (to) loot means "to seize and carry away by force". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loot#dictionary-entry-2

In the opening of the song, Eminem simulates a scene in which a white policeman stops a car driven by a black young man.

Setting the scene: the song was released as a single from the album Revival (2017). Just as The Blacker The Berry, the song is deeply rooted in contemporary America and ferociously addresses systemic racism, police brutality and white supremacy — from the perspective of someone who is a white man. The song was chosen as it perfectly encapsulates and maximizes all elements noted in previous songs.

Since the song was released only two years after The Blacker The Berry, the historical context is (almost) the same, characterized by the Black Lives Matter movement (see note on The Blacker The Berry), except for a significant change in the presidency. Indeed, Barack Obama's presidency ended in January 2017, when Republican Donald Trump was inaugurated as President.

So, why is he a hypocrite? "he refers to himself as a hypocrite for the contrast between the code of righteousness to which he ideologically subscribes and the sinfulness of his […] violence." https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0300649/4 As he clarified in a Rolling Stone interview, "he started thinking about his own time in the streets and all the wrong he's done. So he started writing a new verse, in which he turned the microscope on himself. How can he criticize America for killing young black men […] when young black men are often just so good at it?" https://issuu.com/lawrenceambrocio5018/docs/rolling_stone_march_26_2015_usa_1_

In 2012, Travyon Martin, a 17-year-old black teenager, was killed on his way back home by a white neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman. The man acted against the police's instructions, followed Trayvon and shot him to then declare that he did it as a form of self-defense. Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder: however, he was declared "not guilty". The case inspired a civil rights movement around issues such as race, justice and police brutality in America that would have later become worldwide known as "Black Lives Matter". In the words of former U.S. President Obama, "that was the start of America looking inward […], coming to terms with what has always been our original sin." https://youtu.be/lJynpEzXCY8?si=hTUlaeMllztuIxBf https://youtu.be/pG8FC1Nv18g?si=KvEljPV-Csd3OuPq

It was said tragedy that inspired this song: "Lamar was flipping through the channels on his tour bus when he saw on the news a report that a 16-year-old named Travyon martin had been shot to death in a Florida subdivision." The murder, the singer explained, "put a whole new anger inside me […] It made me remember how I felt. Being harassed, my partners being killed." https://issuu.com/lawrenceambrocio5018/docs/rolling_stone_march_26_2015_usa_1_

Weeping means crying. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/weeping

Said acronym has different meanings; however, given the context, I inferred it stays for "Black Entertainment Television", which provides entertainment programs with a focus on Black culture. https://www.bet.com/

February is the Black History Month: introduced in 1926 by C. G. Woodson (who helped established African American Studies), the birthmonth of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and reformer F. Douglass has been dedicated to celebration of African-American history and culture. Every year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) chooses a theme to focus on. Last year, for example, the theme revolved around labour. https://parade.com/living/black-history-month-themes https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/02/black-history-month-what-is-it-and-why-do-we-need-it/

Abbreviation for birthday. http://b-day.urbanup.com/359355

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was a Jamaican activist, mostly known for having founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). He encouraged Black nationalism through the celebration of African culture and history and advocated for a "back to Africa" movement. https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/marcus-garvey

Here Kendrick Lamar is probably referring to his 2015 performance at Georgia State's music concert, Pantherpalooza. https://viewbook.gsu.edu/2025-2026/?arts_portfolio_item=student-life#:~:text=Pantherpalooza,from%20Kendrick%20Lamar%20to%20Future.

This expression precedes proof of Kendrick Lamar's effort and interest in promoting African-American culture: * he supports and remembers the Black Panther Party; * he lectures Georgia State college students about pivotal figures in the African-American community, such as Marcus Garvey; * he celebrates Black History month as it were his birthday.

However, the expression "don't matter how much" (just as the haunting repetition of being "the biggest hypocrite of 2015") signals that somehow his committment to the cause is not enough: why? The singer forces the audience to wait until the last lines of the song to clarify the reasons of his hypocrisy.

Starting from the 1970s, other African-American gangs emerged to defend themselves from the Crips: the Brims and the Pirus were two of them. The name comes from Piru Street in Compton, where the gang originated. They eventually united in a larger gang under the name of Bloods, which is now one of the major L.A. based gang. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/crips-and-bloods https://www.dictionary.com/culture/slang/piru

Lamar himself "grew up surrounded by gangs. Some of his close friends were West Side Pirus […] and his mom says her brothers were Compton Crips." https://issuu.com/lawrenceambrocio5018/docs/rolling_stone_march_26_2015_usa_1_

If you are interested in discovering the gang's structure and delve more into their origins, here is a detailed (and very interesting If I may add) Intelligence report: https://info.publicintelligence.net/BloodsStreetGangIntelligenceReport.pdf.

In this case, beefin' means fighting. http://beefin.urbanup.com/1401068

What linguistic phenomenon is noticeable here?

Kendrick Lamar was born and raised in Compton, California, situated south of Los Angeles. The Crips he mentions are a modern criminal organization that became active in 1969 throughout Los Angeles high schools. The Compton Crips are a faction of the gang currently active in Compton. Violent fights with other gangs (mainly the Bloods) for drug dealing, smuggling and prostitution control has been going on for decades. https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/gangcolor/lacrips.htm https://study.com/academy/lesson/crips-gang-history-locations.html

If you are interested in the topic, here is a link to a YouTube documentary that delves into Crip neighborhoods in Compton: https://youtu.be/iwfUCR8MbBQ?si=LWfyT8x7n5HbXVi9

Southern Black Africans presents four major ethnic divisions; one of them is the Nguni, which, in its turn, can be divided into four groups: Zulu and Xhosa are two of them. https://sahistory.org.za/article/xhosa https://sahistory.org.za/article/zulu Although they share a common history, they were implicated in a civil war from 1990 to 1994. The reason behind this conflict is, actually, linguistic and tied to colonialism: the two languages were "created" by colonizers and African interpreters. Before African colonialism, indeed, there weren't any written languages and people did not distinguish themselves on a linguistic basis, but rather on social belonging. This does not mean that "Zulu and Xhosa identities didn’t exist before the languages were well defined, rather that the identities were transformed when these languages came into existence." https://theconversation.com/zulu-vs-xhosa-how-colonialism-used-language-to-divide-south-africas-two-biggest-ethnic-groups-204969

The Desert Eagle is a semi-automatic gun.

Deceitful is used to tak about something that gives a false impression. In Italian it could be translated as ingannevole. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deceitful

In this case, it means direct. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blunt

Tyrone is originally Irish name, but recently is increasingly more common for boys in African-American communities. Since its strong association to blacks, it is also at the center of discrimination: compared to Tyrone, "white" names are twice as likely to receive responses. Also Darius is a typical African-American name. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-10108995.html https://www.behindthename.com/name/darius

Aryan refers to a "hypothetical ethnic type illustrated by or descended from early speakers of Indo-European languages —used in Nazism to designate a supposed master race of non-Jewish Caucasians usually having Nordic features". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Aryan

In this scenario dominated by manslaughter and perverse traditions, the pervasive double consciousness that haunts the singer seems to falter: the American heritage, which also entails this bitter history or racism, is too heavy for the singer to carry. Ultimately, he's African.

Synonym of dirty. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grimy

In this last verse, there is no possible misunderstanding: Lamar directly attacks centuries of racism, whose thousands of deaths he (rightly) labels as genocide. Another striking expression is that of "generational hatred": the singer evokes an atmosphere in which racism is like a twisted tradition which, instead of passing down from father to son, passes down from generation to generation, destroying people in the meantime.

It means I am going to in a process of word evolution which may be the following: I am going to be > I'm gonna > Imma > I'ma. http://ima.urbanup.com/2146

Dat means that. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/dat/955

I could not find a match for this word, yet it is highly probable it may be an abbreviation of remember.

Dem ah seh could mean "they all say". Ah can mean different words, in which I could not find all, but I hypothesized this meaning also by comparing this version to Anglicized ones. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/dem/961 https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/seh/1293

'pon means on. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/pon/1257

The American English version would be: "How don't you see the whip, left scar on our back". https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/nuh/1055 https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/di/963 https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/pon/1257

It means in. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/inna/1014

This sentence may be translated to American English in something like: "We feel a whole heap of pain because we are black". https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/wul/3671 https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/ah/883

Woi indicates "an expression of surprise or disbelief", similar to "Oh my God". https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/woi/4516

Cah means because. I hypothesize that it may be the outcome of an evolution process like the following: because > 'cause > cah. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/cah/4365

I could not find any indications for this word, but I think it may be used as us.

This entire verse is written in Jamaican patois, that is, "an English-lexified creole language spoken by the majority of Jamaicans". As you will see, some words may be intuitive, but others are definitely not. While I was looking for the lyrics of the song, I found other anglicized versions which were certainly more comprehensible, but, I am afraid, less faithful to the singer's intention. Consequently, I opted for the original, more complex version. Why has the singer recurred to Jamaican patois? My hypothesis is that he features it as a way to give importance and centrality to a marginal community through its language.

Dem is they. https://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/dem/961

Lamar mangles (storpia, in Italian) the words of the proverb: this modified version seems to represent a counterpart to the the original one. If the first one celebrates and honors Black culture, this one seems to connect to the brutality of reality, in which violence dominates and is, apparently, the only possible response.

"This Black proverb appears as early as 1929 in the title of Wallace Thurman’s novel, The Blacker the Berry. Most agree that the phrase is meant as an affirmation of the richness and beauty of Black people and of darker skin Blacks. In many ways it is a counter response to the pervasive celebration of white or lighter skin Black Americans. The phrase appears in Tupac Shakur’s 1993 song “Keep Your Head Up,” and continues to flow through Black culture as a form of praise and affirmation." https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/save-culture-slang-exploration-black-language-expressions

See the annotation I made on the same term in 2Pac's song "Changes".

This word is a highly offensive, derogatory term used to insult Black people by comparing them to animals. The likening of a person to an ape, a monkey or a gorilla is a discriminatory practice that takes the name of simianization. Simianization dates back to the Middle Ages and has progressively taken a racist turn and started only to indicate black-skinned individuals. Reasons for this association may include the prevalence of apes in Africa and the aesthetic difference between whites and blacks. In any case and whatever the reason may be, it is a form of degradation and dehumanization. In this case, it is probable that Lamar is aiming for a reclaiming (that is, semantic inversion) of the term. In other words, the same reasoning applied for "nigga" in 2Pac's "Changes" is applicable here: the singer uses this term to affirm his identity as an African-American. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/simianization https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102

After having described some features stereotypically connected with being African-American, Lamar asks white people a rhetorical question ("you hate me, don't you?") since he already knows the answer. In such a perspective, there seems to be no glimpse of hope for Black people: they are hated and their culture is at risk of being "terminated". Nevertheless, Lamar does not renounce to his voice and gives space to the rage that feels since he was a teenager. https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0300649/4

Informal and sometimes derogatory adjective used to indicate coiled (that is, very curly) hair. In this case, think of afro hair. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nappy

Once again, the you corresponds to white people listening the song.

Here Lamar denounces a decade-long rage for anti-Black racism and police brutality he himself was a victim of. In a Rolling Stone interview, Lamar declared that as a teenager "the majority of my interactions with the police were not good […] there were a few good ones who were actually protecting the community. But then you have the ones from the Valley. They never met me in my life, but since I'm a kid […] they wanna slam me on the hood of the car. Sixteen years old […] Even if he's not a good kid, that don't give you the right to slam a minor on the ground or pull a pistol on him. " […] Indeed, "police pull guns on him on two occasions. The first when he was 17." https://issuu.com/lawrenceambrocio5018/docs/rolling_stone_march_26_2015_usa_1_

In this case, convey means communicate. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/convey

Homie is a term used to refer to a close friend. http://homie.urbanup.com/1195050

Schizophrenia is a mental illness, in "characterized by disruptions in thought processes, perceptions, emotional responsiveness, and social interactions". https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/schizophrenia However, in this case the term is more likely to refer to W.E.B. Du Bois' double consciousness. This notion hints at the idea that black people possess a double identity: the first one is tied to being African-American, whereas the other corresponds to the perspective of the White oppressors. As a consequence, their sense of self is fragmented. Hence, the reference to the fragmented self of schizophrenic people. https://study.com/learn/lesson/web-du-bois-double-consciousness-overview-background-examples.html#:~:text=Double%20consciousness%20is%20the%20feeling%20of%20having%20two%20social%20identities,%2C%20and%20treatment%20by%2C%20Caucasians. https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream/pdf/24/1.0300649/4

Morn' is the abbreviation of morning. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/morn

They just completed a stricter regime by the DPA, and then immediately this comes up afterwards. Ouch. It surfaced bc they were monitoring network traffic volumes. That says to me they also know who did the uploading

Both these things, internal training and an AI operational code, are common in gov agencies. Here they are too late, and it's uncertain anyway they would have had effect. Any person who thinks nothing of uploading internal documents into a public website won't be held back by a rulebook they would not have read.

OpenAI requested to delete uploaded documents. Hardly possible I suspect, and definitely not something one can verify.

Eindhoven monitors their network for the type of outgoing connections. Apparently that until now dit not include publicly available algogens

As result of the data breach, all OpenAI products have been banned internally. Only MS Copilot, embedded in their MS office suite is available.

Gemeente Eindhoven 'lekte' persoonsgegevens naar 'publieke AI sites'. Ze weten niet precies wat er is gebeurd, maar dit leest alsof iemand binnen de gemeente een reeks interne documenten of gegevens in een prompt heeft gegooid.

Reportar fuente de los datos

De acuerdo. Averiguar también si los promedios consideran seminarios, tesis, prácticas, etc.

En todo caso no sé si es relevante el p en este caso. Me quedaría solo con el r

Pensar en otro nombre... "en bruto" me suena más a "antes de realizar un cálculo".

En cualquier caso, definir variables.

Ojo porque parece que se desconfiguran la numeración de los capítulos

Do you have resolution specifications for a higher NA objective? For folks who might want higher spatial resolution than 2.5um it would be great to know how far the system could be pushed. Related, have you tried a 'true' confocal light path with focusing optics and a pinhole? Again, it would be great to know how far the system could be pushed.

vue

No entiendo la función de esta sección

test

bojour